Off network return operations for pickup locations

• US 9,934,483 B1
• Filed: 08/06/2013
• Issued: 04/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sangani, Rucheek Hasmukh, Gupta, Piyush, Goswami, Neha, Morren, Nicholas John, Rahane, Ameya
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Jagdish
• Application Number:
  US13/960,785
• Time in Patent Office: 1,701 Days
• Field of Search: 705 261- 262, 705339
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/1378 the orders being assembled on fixed commissioning areas remote from the storage areas
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0837 Return transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A pickup location may be enabled to continue to operate when communication over a network is not available. When communication is not available, a pickup location may not be able to send a confirmation that a user has dropped off an item for a return or to send a request to have the item retrieved by a carrier. The pickup location may be enabled to assign a stored access code that was previously sent to a carrier and which will allow the item to be retrieved by the carrier who has arrived at the pickup location for reasons other than a request to retrieve the item. A retrieval confirmation from the carrier may be utilized to allow a refund or replacement process to be initiated, and to update capacity information for the pickup location, if the carrier meets a certain confidence threshold requirement based on past performance.

Claims

1. A pickup location, comprising:

a storage compartment with a locking mechanism; and

a control station configured to control the locking mechanism, the control station comprising;

an input device configured to receive an input of an access code; and

a computing system, comprising;

one or more processors; and

a memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing program instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to at least;

determine that an input has been received at the control station that is related to a delivery of an item to the pickup location as part of a return process for the item;

determine that network communication is not available from the pickup location such that a retrieval request is not able to be sent to a carrier to retrieve the item;

in response to the determination that network communication is not available, determine that a stored access code is available that was previously provided to a carrier;

associate the access code with the item;

determine that the input device of the control station of the pickup location has received an input of the access code from the carrier; and

in response to the determination that the input device has received the input of the access code, control the locking mechanism to unlock the storage compartment in which the item has been stored to enable the carrier to retrieve the item.

2. The pickup location of claim 1, wherein the pickup location further comprises a second storage compartment which is also unlocked to enable the carrier to retrieve a second item, the carrier having previously been scheduled to arrive at the pickup location to retrieve the second item.

3. The pickup location of claim 2, wherein the second item and the item being returned are both to be delivered by the carrier to a same destination.

4. The pickup location of claim 1, wherein the access code is selected to be associated with the storage compartment based at least in part on an expected arrival date of the carrier at the pickup location.

5. The pickup location of claim 1, wherein as part of the return process a user is provided with an access code for the storage compartment which is stored in a memory of the computing system of the pickup location such that the user can use the access code to place the item in the storage compartment even if network communication with the pickup location is not available when the user arrives.

6. The pickup location of claim 1, wherein at least one of a date or time of the retrieval of the item by the carrier is stored in a memory of the computing system of the pickup location for transmission to a remote computing resource when network communication with the pickup location is restored.

7. A computing system of a pickup location which includes a storage compartment, the computing system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing program instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to at least;

determine that an input has been received that is related to a delivery of an item to the pickup location as part of a return process for the item;

determine that network communication is not available from the pickup location such that a retrieval request is not able to be sent to a carrier to retrieve the item;

in response to the determination that network communication is not available, determine that a stored access code is available that was previously provided to a carrier;

associate the access code with the item;

receive the access code as input by the carrier at the pickup location; and

in response to the receipt of the access code, control a locking mechanism to unlock a storage compartment containing the item to allow the carrier to access the storage compartment to retrieve the item.

8. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the access is also associated with a second item in a second storage compartment of the pickup location.

9. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the access code is one of a plurality of stored access codes and is selected based on at least one of a date of retrieval or a delivery destination for the item by the carrier.

10. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the determining that the input has been received includes determining that a user access code has been received that was sent to a user by a remote computing resource.

11. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the program instructions when executed by the one or more processors further cause the one or more processors to generate the user access code and to send the user access code to the remote computing resource while network communication is available to enable the remote computing resource to send the user access code to the users.

12. The computing system of claim 7, wherein when the network communication is not available it is due to a network outage.

13. The computing system of claim 12, wherein during the network outage no new deliveries by users of items that are being returned are scheduled for delivery to the pickup location although existing deliveries that were previously synchronized with the pickup location continue to be processed at the pickup location.

14. The computing system of claim 7, wherein a request to retrieve the item has not been sent to the carrier prior to an arrival of the carrier at the pickup location.

15. A computer implemented method, comprising:

under control of one or more computing devices of a pickup location that are configured with executable instructions,

determining that an input has been received that is related to a delivery of an item to the pickup location as part of a return process for the item;

determining that network communication is not available from the pickup location such that a retrieval request is not able to be sent to a carrier to retrieve the item;

in response to the determination that network communication is not available, determining that a stored access code is available that was previously provided to a carrier;

associating the access code with the item;

receiving the access code as input at the pickup location; and

in response to the receiving of the access code, controlling a locking mechanism to unlock a storage compartment containing the item to allow the carrier to access the storage compartment to retrieve the item.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the access code is one of a plurality of stored access codes and is selected based on at least one of a date of retrieval or a delivery destination for the item by the carrier.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the determining that the input has been received includes determining that a user access code has been received that was provided to a user by a remote computing resource.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising continuing to process existing deliveries while network communication is not available from the pickup location due to a network outage, and during the network outage no new deliveries by users of items that are being returned are scheduled for delivery to the pickup location although the existing deliveries that were previously synchronized with the pickup location continue to be processed at the pickup location.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the access code is received at the pickup location without having sent a request to retrieve the item to the carrier prior to an arrival of the carrier at the pickup location.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising storing a user access code for the storage compartment in a memory of the pickup location that the user is able to use to place the item in the storage compartment at a time when network communication from the pickup location is not available.

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising storing at least one of a date or time of the retrieval of the item by the carrier in a memory of the pickup location for transmission to a remote computing resource when network communication from the pickup location is restored.